For many years, Alun Gwyn Jones was a career soldier. After he left the army in 1961 he joined The Times as defence correspondent.

Three years later he was summoned to see Harold Wilson, the new Labour prime minister, and much to everyone’s surprise, including his own, he departed the meeting having been made a life peer and a minister at the Foreign Office, despite the fact that he was neither a socialist nor, prior to his appointment, a member of the Labour Party.

I was a guest on Last Orders, the Spiked podcast, last week.

Hosted by Tom Slater, editor of the online magazine Spiked, and the IEA’s Chris Snowdon, each episode addresses three topical issues, usually from a libertarian perspective.

Tobacco magazine in Hungary has published the second of a two-part interview I did last month.

Not sure why they used this photo. Was it something I said?!

I don’t want to appear facetious, but this is the sort of thing that amuses me.

According to the UK Tobacco Industry Interference Index 2025, part of the Global Tobacco Industry Interference Index, ‘the UK is ranked 17th globally out of 100 countries, based on evidence captured between April 2023 and March 2025'. Gratifyingly, Forest is mentioned several times.

A friend messaged me this morning, ‘Time to resurrect the Media Monitoring Unit?’

I won’t repeat my reply, but it’s not a bad idea. My media monitoring days may be over, but it could be a job for someone else.

Sorry to hear that Gilson Lavis, the original drummer with Squeeze, has died. He was 74.

Paul Carrack, who played keyboards on two Squeeze albums – East Side Story (1981) and Some Fantastic Place (1993) – posted a lovely tribute on Instagram. Others who have paid tribute include Jools Holland and Chris Evans.

The Office for National Statistics has published the latest (estimated) figures for the number of people who smoke and vape in the UK.

According to the ONS, the proportion of the adult population in the UK who smoke cigarettes fell from 11.9 per cent (six million) in 2023, to 10.6 per cent (5.3 million) in 2024.

Sadly, another old school friend has died.

Colin lived or worked in over 30 different countries. Adelaide, he said, was the ‘nicest place’ he had lived and he became an Australian citizen, although he never forgot his Scottish roots.